


Chapter 55

by illyriantremors



Series: ACOMAF Rhys POV Standalone Chapters [11]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, NSFW, Rhys POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 01:32:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7598242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illyriantremors/pseuds/illyriantremors
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys POV during all the glorious smut that is Chapter 55 of ACOMAF. Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chapter 55

**Author's Note:**

> Update as of 4/19/17: This fic has been updated! I have gone back to the beginning of ACOMAF and started the entire book from Rhys's POV. You can find this specific chapter new and updated _[HERE](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10671366/chapters/23621829)_. :)

It was about half a millisecond before I grabbed the spoon and started eating. I would never look at soup in the same boring, bland way again.

Feyre was accepting the bond. She was choosing me.

But she hadn’t said anything and it took every ounce of power I possessed within my 500 year career to steady my hand as I lifted each spoonful to my mouth and watched her from across the table.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” I asked when I was done eating.

“I was going to tell you what I’d decided the moment I saw you on the threshold,” Feyre said and I wondered if her heart was beating as fast as mine.

“And now?” I said, starting to squirm.

Feyre came to me. I counted every step. I heard every breath, watched every soft movement of her long, slender arms as she found me and she came to straddle me in my chair. I held on to her hips trying so desperately not to shake for fear she was going to reject me despite it all, that Tamlin was going to win in the end again and this was just one final way to dig at me.

Feyre’s eyes trapped mine with her own and gave me such a deep, knowing look I half hoped she wouldn’t… she couldn’t… not after everything I’d told her, everything I had fought through to keep her alive and happy. I would make her so happy if she’d only let me.

“And now I want you to know, Rhysand, that I love you,” she said. “I want you to know…” She paused to wipe away the tears that were falling down my face, tears I didn’t even realize I’d unleashed. “I want you to know,” she continued with a low, gentle voice to soothe my aches and pains, “that I am broken and healing, but every piece of my heart belongs to you. And I am honored - honored to be your mate.”

I never knew my heart could break and that I’d actually be glad to feel it happen until it actually did in that moment.

She chose me. My mate chose me. I found her and fought for her and revealed my entire being to her and she didn’t run away in fear like the rest of the world had at the merest glimpse of me.

My mate. My mate. My mate.

Feyre was mine and even though I’d known it for so long, I no longer knew how to keep it together. I fell against her, my body completely falling to pieces as she held me, ran her delicate fingers through my hair like a promise to never let go again.

“I love you,” Feyre repeated. “And I’d endure every second of it over again so I could find you. And if war comes, we’ll face it. Together. I won’t let them take me from you. And I won’t let them take you from me, either.”

I lifted my head from her shoulder. I had to see her beautiful face, to understand how absolutely and irrevocably she meant each word. But I had cried so hard, it was difficult to even concentrate on what I was holding before me.

Feyre leaned forward with such careful ease that my body stilled completely. She kissed away the tears one at a time, each one like a whispered promise calling to me.

My mate. My mate. My mate.

When she was through, she looked at me one final time and spoke with such certainty. “You’re mine,” she breathed into me, through me and my body responded with a great heaving, shudder before I kissed her.

I poured my entire being into that kiss moving my lips with gentle clarity that explained to her how treasured she was, how grateful I was that she would accept me, that I could be so privileged to even have a chance with her, my equal in every way.

Feyre’s arms slid around me securing me to her. Her mouth parted in reply to my own just enough for me to deepen the kiss. Our tongues met and the spark of heat that shot through me shifted the moment. I went hard. I went hard for my mate. Feyre felt it too and groaned into my mouth and that did it.

I scooped her up and laid her against the table as she hooked both legs around my waist. I was vaguely aware of paints and brushes scattered about the table, but I didn’t care enough to be bothered with moving them out of the way. No more waiting. I needed her to come for me now.

I moved my mouth aggressively down her neck while my hands made quick work of her shirt, tossing it over her head and away from the table. I took my time surveying the half-naked site of her while she stared at me, already covered in bits of paint, before my mouth came down on one of her breasts.

Her fingers plunging into my hair told me she liked it well enough, so I flicked my tongue violently against her peeking nipple right as my hand shot out onto the table… and straight into a glob of paint.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. This was going to be messy and it felt so right that I dragged my fingers through the paint and drew a lazy circle around the breast I’d been gorging myself on before drawing the line out down my Feyre’s stomach where it ended in an arrow pointed towards the warm spot between her thighs.

“Lest you forget where this is going to end,” I said devilishly.

Feyre snarled at me and I barked out another laugh, pleased at her reaction. This was going to be good. I would put her through the ringer, I decided, as I sucked her other breast and teased her with my hips. Months and months and what really felt like a lifetime of waiting for this exact moment, I wouldn’t waste it. I’d prove to her exactly how much she meant to me.

We were a tangle of paint and limbs as I allowed Feyre up enough to help me get my leathers off until only my pants remained. Her bare skin against my chest felt like Heaven and my lips found hers again. I couldn’t wait any longer.

I tore at her pants until she was utterly naked before me and even though I could tell she wanted me to take her fully then and there - something I had half a mind to do, I was throbbing beneath my clothes - I wasn’t going to let her have it. Not yet.

I pulled my mate to the end of the table and heard the gasp of shock escape her mouth as she realized what I was doing. I threw her legs over my shoulders and kneeled before her at the edge of the table, kneeled on my stars and my throne for her alone and no other. Kneeled for my Feyre.

The first lick of my feast was slow and agonizing and it tasted divine, made even better by the sound that came out of my mate’s mouth as she felt me taste her. That was all the encouragement I needed. I gorged myself on her, licking between her folds and nipping in all the right places to make her body tremble and gasp to the point that I had to hold her hips in place, which only teased her more. And when I felt her start to near her climax, I inched my mouth higher and slipped my fingers inside, rocking her harder and harder until she shattered with my name barely rasping off her lips.

“Rhys…” she moaned.

I responded only by gripping her harder, pumping her faster, until she came for me again.

I had never felt so smug in my life as I did when I finished, looking her paint smeared body over that felt like jello in my arms, the result of my handiwork. A feral, instinctual smirk glossed over my face proud at what I could make her feel for me, because of me.

“You’re mine,” I declared with my own snarl before taking her limp body into my arms and carrying her into the bedroom that would be our nest for the night. I laid her down on the bed and removed my pants so that I could join her fully unclothed. Feyre stared at all of me with such intense longing clearly written all over her face. My wings came free of themselves then. She had asked me about it once while we were flying and I’d told her never would I allow myself to be so vulnerable with a partner.

But Feyre was different. She was my mate and my equal and therefore, deserved every inch of me I had to give, including my wings.

They appeared on my back, tucked in tightly, as I lowered myself over her. I could read the delight in her eyes as she reached out one of her slender fingers and caressed the curve of my wings. My body shuddered again, including my more sensitive areas.

“Play later,” I said through gritted teeth and then I kissed her and her legs once more locked around my waist as our kiss deepened into another frenzied passion. I wanted her so badly. I wanted her more than I’d ever wanted a woman or quite possibly anything in my entire life. I was so close to taking her, but I couldn’t resist one last tease I pressed my cock near her entrance and stopped short.

The snarl that ripped from her mouth gave me the satisfaction I craved.

“Play later,” she said, throwing my own words back at me and causing me to laugh. But then I slid into her, watched her eyes close as I filled her up, deeper and… Feyre, Feyre, Feyre. Fuck, she felt so good.

Her eyes opened as she adjusted and I knew she felt as content as I did. But I needed to hear it from her. I wanted her to say the words over and over again before we made love.

“Say it again,” I breathed, desperate to hear her claim me again. Mercifully, she understood.

“You’re mine,” she sighed. I moved on her then. One slow, long thrust out and back in until she repeated herself. “You’re mine.” I quickened my pace inside her with every thrust. I could see the bond between us. I could feel it, even smell it. I scented Feyre becoming me and me becoming her and I plunged into her continually, kissing her recklessly with every piece of me I could offer. She continued to claim me with her words even as her hands found other ways to take me, gliding over my chest, through my paint stained hair, and across my wings.

Mercy, my wings.

“I love you,” I gasped and she came, breaking over me on the spot. I felt her tighten around my cock as pleasure overtook her and we fully became one, mated forever until the day the rest of the world died away and even then, we would not separate. I had never felt anything so brilliant, nor understood anything so perfectly as I did my Feyre in that moment when I watched her come for me. A roar ripped out of me as I came inside her so deep and shattering around us, I could feel the earth around the cabin quake.

We were still for a few moments panting in our love making until her hands found my face. And then… she smiled at me. And my life was perfect.

—————————-

We were still together in the quiet of the cabin for a long time. My hands roamed her body freely now and then, my fingertips just happy to find reassurance of her skin underneath them. My mind wandered back over all the memories of how we’d reached this point and I felt compelled to say something as if I would never find enough ways to tell her how much I utterly adored her.

“I think I fell in love with you,” I said, “the moment I realized you were cleaving those bones to make a trap for the Middengard Wyrm. Or maybe the moment you flipped me off for mocking you. It reminded me so much of Cassian. For the first time in decades, I wanted to laugh.”

I wanted to laugh then remembering that rare moment of joy within the bowels of so much pain that entire ordeal had been. But Feyre didn’t take it that way.

“You fell in love with me,” she said, “because I reminded you of your friend?”

Oh Feyre, my Feyre.

“I fell in love with you, smartass, because you were one of us - because you weren’t afraid of me, and you decided to end your spectacular victory by throwing that piece of bone at Amarantha like a javelin. I felt Cassian’s spirit beside me in that moment, and could have sworn I heard him say, ‘If you don’t marry her, you stupid prick, I will.’”

Her body quivered at that, a small chuckle coming out of her before she stilled again and I wondered if I’d still done something wrong. But I followed her eyes and found them roving over the paint that covered us. It was everywhere. My hair was caked with it, my tattoos covered, a distant thing of the past. And my wings! My wings were absolutely littered.

And I kind of liked it how she had marked her territory over me so intimately.

“How convenient that the bathtub is large enough for two,” I said, looking down at her with a wickedly satisfied grin. Feyre tried to make for the tub on her own, but I was having positively none of that as I grabbed her and carried her naked self against me into an already steaming bathtub. I grabbed the soap and rags from the basket that had appeared as Feyre momentarily submerged herself under the hissing water and then handed them to her when she came back up. “Someone, it seems, got my wings dirty.”

Feyre delighted in ordering me to turn around and I eagerly obeyed, my body tensing as I splayed my wings fully for my mate and waited for her to begin her work. My hands shot out and gripped the sides of the tub at she began her careful, cleaning strokes over my wings. It felt luxurious and I hardened instantly, the intimacy and the desire threatening to consume me. Feyre seemed to notice and snickered.

“At least the rumors about wingspan correlating with the size of other parts were right,” she said and I relaxed into a laugh. But my relaxation was short lived when she spoke again. It was amazing how every word, every action from this beautiful creature that had blessed my life could control my emotions so fully. I existed on her every thought.

“I think I was falling in love with you for a while,” Feyre said. Her voice was so quiet, it scared me to death. “But I knew on Starfall. Or came close to knowing and was so scared of it that I didn’t want to look closer. I was a coward.”

My heart sank for her and a stab of guilt pained me.

“You had perfectly good reasons to avoid it,” I told her.

“No, I didn’t. Maybe - thanks to Tamlin, yes. But it had nothing to do with you, Rhys. Nothing to do with you. I was never afraid of the consequences of being with you. Even if every assassin in the world hunts us… It’s worth it. You are worth it.”

My head fell, trying not to cry. I could barely talk, much less breathe, but I managed to choke out a strangled, “Thank you.” Feyre kissed my neck, her finger stroking my cheek so lovingly and I knew without a shadow of a doubt how deeply she loved me.

When she’d finished cleaning my wings with such intensive care, I took the soap and rag from her and turned her so that I could wash the paint from her back. “What now?” she asked.

“It’s up to you,” I said, my mind running through all of the options. “We can go back to Velaris and have the bond verified by a priestess - no one like Ianthe, I promise - and be declared officially Mated. We could have a small party to celebrate - dinner with our… cohorts. Unless you’d rather have a large party, though I think you and I are in agreement about our aversion for them.” Feyre groaned her assent. “We could also go before a priestess and be declared husband and wife as well as mates, if you want a more human thing to call me.”

“What will you call me?”

“Mate,” I said, never more confident of my answer than when I said the word to her in that tub, and then another tempting thought struck me as my hands massaged the length of her spine. “Though also calling you my wife sounds mighty appealing, too. Or if you want to wait, we can do none of those things. We’re mated, whether it’s shouted across the world or not. There’s no rush to decide.”

She turned around to face me.

“I was asking about Jurian, the king, the queens, and the Cauldron, but I’m glad to know I have so many options where our relationship stands. And that you’ll do whatever I want. I must have you wrapped completely around my finger.”

She was so divine. I could feel the burning ache for her starting again. “Cruel, beautiful thing,” I said. Feyre snorted and the thoughts she shouted down the bond at me - intentionally or not - had me reeling right away. Thoughts of doubt that I could find her so attractive, which I most certainly did. “You are,” I said, affirming her beauty. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I thought that from the first moment I saw you on Calanmai.” I could see the tears threatening, tears that broke and built me at the same time, and I had to make it better.

“Which is good,” I said referencing the impression she had of me on Calanmai. “Because you thought I was the most beautiful male you’d ever seen. So it makes us even.”

It worked. Feyre scowled at me and relief tore through me that I laughed. I grabbed her, pulling her to me until she was straddling me like she had when she first told me she would have me for her mate back in that chair, before all the paint.

“Tomorrow,” I said and the mood in me shifted as we approached a subject I wanted nothing to do with even though I knew it would have to interrupt my Heaven with Feyre at some point. “We’re leaving tomorrow for your family’s estate. The queens sent word. They return in three days.”

Feyre’s eyes widened. “You’re telling me this now?”

I couldn’t hide the joy from my voice as I marveled at the sight of her, all mine to behold and consume and love. “I got sidetracked.”

And that’s when it happened. Something in Feyre… changed. She looked up at me and her entire face became the most perfect vision of peace, like if she were to die right then she would die happily, not that I wanted her to die at all. Not ever. But then her entire body began to glow, a beautiful pure light emanating from every pore on her skin. She was such a vision, it filled my soul to the brim with awe.

“Well, at least now I can gloat that I literally make my mate glow with happiness,” I purred.

When Feyre laughed at my remarks, the glowing intensified and I had to kiss her. I was hard against her and could feel her body readying for me to take her again on the spot, but I had other ideas. I lifted her and walked wet, dripping steps back to the freshly cleaned bed and laid her down where her eyes were able to fully take in the sight of her glowing, dazzling self.

“Day Court?” she asked.

She was so heartbreakingly beautiful and she was all mine.

“I don’t care,” I said gruffly, my instincts taking over again. And I lost it. I let the damper on my powers come unhinged to match her own and darkness flooded the room. The dreams. The nightmares. The stars. The moon. The chaos. All of it flooded around us merging with the light from Feyre’s body, the light that guided me home.

Feyre pulled herself up to kiss me and took me down onto the bed where her mouth became a fire against mine, her tongue roaming everywhere. She had me pinned on my back, my wings locked beneath me, and I felt a lapse of a panic hit me.

“Illyrian baby,” Feyre cooed, her eyes full of lust and longing that teased me, probably in revenge for what I’d put her through earlier. Her hand trailed ever lower on my abdomen until she gripped my cock and her fingertips began to play a dangerous game that broke goosebumps on my skin.

My mate. My mate. My mate.

I wanted her then and there all over again, but she stopped me with a deadly seductive, “My turn,” and looked at me with that knowing look that I would let her do anything she wanted to me, have every power over me. I tried to play it cool, flashing that self-satisfied smirk at her that I knew drove her wild, but the second her mouth went down on me, I lost all sense of coolness.

“Shit!” I yelled, enjoying the feeling of Feyre taking me deeper into her mouth. She laughed mockingly at my response and started to graze me so lightly, but just enough, with her teeth. My hands fisted the sheets as I groaned. I wanted to let her finish me, but the second I opened my eyes and stared down at her dark golden head sucking between my legs, control escaped me.

In one fast motion too quick for Feyre to realize what happened, I had her flipped. I laid her on her stomach and brought her hips up so I could thrust inside her once more, the feeling every bit as good as the first time. She moaned instantly into the pillows at her face, her hands disappearing underneath them, and my need intensified.

Her body glowed beneath me. If it weren’t for my desire to make love to her for as long as possible, I could have died just taking her all in. I kissed along her back and went slowly in and out of her and gasped, “Look at you…”

Feyre turned just enough to see us joined, not just physically, but in equal parts light and darkness. We were two sides of the same coin, the same energy ticking in two separate bodies I was going to spend the rest of my life trying to stitch together. And just like that, with one look at us, she came for me.

But it wasn’t enough. Would it ever be enough? I wanted her over and over again, so I hoisted her up, still inside of her with her back against my chest, and fondled every inch of her including the apex between her thighs. I lost count of the number of times she shattered, it’s a wonder I could keep myself from breaking too.

But I knew as she came for me, my name on her lips like a dream come true, how exactly I wanted to come. I slide out of her and returned to my position on my back with her atop me. A flash of another time darted across my mind, one I wanted to never think of again after this night, one that I could replace with my mate and the bond growing between us.

Feyre saw it. Her eyes softened taking me in and I knew she knew.

My mate. My mate. My mate.

It was all I could do to keep from losing it all over again and collapsing against her. With more tenderness than I’d ever been shown, Feyre leaned down to kiss me, sliding herself gently on to me in the same breathe. I was so deep inside her.

“Feyre,” I moaned into her mouth, half a cry.

She took her time, making love to me passionately. The amount of care in her eyes and in her touch as she looked at me and willed herself to glow even brighter illuminating my entire life, overwhelmed me. I was yelling her name as I thrust in time with her body and she came. I felt myself spill inside of her as release took me and she worked the final throws against my hips.

Breathless, I clutched the damp hair around her neck and took her in.

“We’ll have to find a way to put a damper on that light,” I managed to say when we were through.

 

“I can keep the shadows hidden easily enough,” Feyre said in her defense.

“Ah, but you only lose control of those when you’re pissed. And since I have every intention of making you as happy as a person can be… I have a feeling we’ll need to learn to control that wondrous glow.”

“Always thinking; always calculating.” Feyre’s fingers trailed the tattoos of my chest, digging in here and there with the faintest of pressures. It sent shivers up my spine.

“You have no idea how many things I’ve thought up when it comes to you.”

“I remember mention of a wall.”

Already, I was starting to feel the need for her claw itself back through me. This was going to be a long night. I laughed as I promised my mate, “Next time, Feyre, I’ll fuck you against the wall.”

“Hard enough to make the pictures fall off.”

That sent me reeling. This wicked woman would be death of me and I would gladly die that death a thousand times over. “Show me again what you can do with that wicked mouth,” I begged and felt myself go taut with pleasure as she showed me.

—————————-

I wasn’t sure how much sleep I got. A few minutes if that. Feyre found sleep against me for little less than an hour, we devoured each other for so long through the night, and as much as I relished the idea of sleeping along side my mate, I knew what waited for us in the morning and I didn’t want to waste a single second with her. So I watched her as she slept, savoring every little intake of breath, every twitch of her fingers resting against my chest, the relief overwhelming my senses when she never once flailed from a nightmare. I had a feeling my own nightmares would be few and far between from now on.

When she did wake, I tried to convince her breakfast was the best course of action and she’d agreed, but not two seconds after I stood from the bed and ruffled my wings for a stretch, I felt her body smack into me and I fell to the floor laughing myself to pieces at her desire. She flipped me over in no time at all and was riding me once more, this time hard and greedily, her body tearing into mine. I lost what little control I seemed to still possess when it came to this woman and my talons slipped out.

The floor rug didn’t live to see another day.

“It’s normal,” I said, when we finally made it to the kitchen. We had to eat if we were going to make it through all the traveling ahead of us.

“What’s normal?” Feyre asked. She was so obviously avoiding my gaze as she began eaiting a few bites of bread and with good reason. One look and I might turn the tables on her, but I couldn’t stop staring at her, she was so perfect. Carefully, I chose my words.

“The… frenzy,” I said. “When a couple accepts the mating bond, it’s… overwhelming. Again, harkening back to the beasts we once were. Probably something about ensuring the female was impregnated. Some couples don’t leave the house for a week. Males get so volatile that it can be dangerous for them to be in public, anyway. I’ve seen males of reason and education shatter a room because another male looked too long in their mate’s direction, too soon after they’d been mated.”

Feyre’s body stilled and I wondered if it was suddenly too much for her handle. If she was feeling anything close to how I felt, then I was sure it was entirely possible. But then visions were passed along the bond and I saw that… that monster flash through her mind and I knew what plagued her.

“I’d like to believe I have more restraint than the average male,” I said softly, trying to soothe her worries, but I also had to be honest. We were leaving soon and I was incredibly agitated about doing so, more than I would have her know. “But… be patient with me, Feyre, if I’m a little on edge.”

Feyre’s eyes finally found mine and realization danced within them.

“You don’t want to leave this house,” she said quietly.

Without a second thought, I instantly snapped out, “I want to stay in that bedroom and fuck you until we’re both hoarse.” And it was so desperately true, I’d do anything to stay in this cabin with her all week to fuck her senseless.

Her body’s response was a delight. I could read every line of her skin, in her muscles tensing, signaling that she wanted me. I was about to move when her next line surprised me.

“About - pregnancy,” she said and I froze, the mood entirely shifted in the opposite direction now. “We didn’t - I’m not taking a tonic. I haven’t been, I mean.”

I considered the full weight of her words, read the anxiety so clearly implied by the way she stumbled - rather adorably - over her words. So I kept it simple.

“Do you want to start taking it again?”

“If I am a High Lord’s mate, I’m expected to bear you offspring, aren’t I? So perhaps I shouldn’t.”

Her response ripped anger through me, not because she would think something so horrible, but because the world had become so twisted to make her believe she had to.

“You are not expected to bear me anything,” I declared firmly. “Children are rare, yes. So rare, and so precious. But I don’t want you to have them unless you want to - unless we both want to. And right now, with this war coming, with Hybern… “ I shuddered at the thought, fear coursing through me. “I’ll admit that I’m terrified at the thought of my mate being pregnant with so many enemies around us. I’m terrified of what I might do if you’re pregnant and threatened. Or harmed.”

Feyre’s shoulders sagged in what was clearly relief. Her voice sounded a million times more assured when she spoke. “Then I’ll start taking it today, once we get back.” She rose with a small smile and made for the bedroom. Despite everything I’d just told her - and I meant every word - I couldn’t help the sudden vision from swimming to the forefront of my mind, one I dared so little to ever yield to. Children were never something I thought I would be blessed enough to receive and after my own family had been taken away from me so cruelly, I never deigned to hope I would have that family back one day lest I be disappointed all over again. But then, I never thought I’d be blessed enough to find Feyre, much less keep her, and yet here she was, my mate. Suddenly, I saw the potential, couldn’t keep my imagination at bay as I thought… I could have all of that with her.

“I would be happy beyond reason, though,” I blurted and she stopped at the door, “if you one day did honor me with children. To share that with you.”

She turned back to look at me, the kindest loving smile overtaking her face. A smile just for me. “I want to live first,” Feyre said. “With you. I want to see things and have adventures. I want to learn what it is to be immortal, to be your mate, to be part of your family. I want to be… ready for them. And I selfishly want to have you all to myself for a while.”

I smiled back at her so fiercely proud of the mate I’d been gifted and how strong and capable she was. I would never be convinced of deserving her. “You take all the time you need,” I said. “And if I get you all to myself for the rest of eternity, then I won’t mind that at all.”

Feyre positively beamed at me before she tried to slip ever so shyly away to clean herself up. But I caught up to her at the mouth of the tub, pulling her down into the waters with me where I made love to her one last time, visions of children and the future that could be dancing between us.


End file.
